Krugman on the ‘Fiscal Cliff,’ Pat Robertson on Women and Porn, and More

Posted on Nov 9, 2012

By Tracy Bloom

Defending Florida: Delusional Gov. Rick Scott doesn’t see anything wrong with his decision to limit voting in Florida, despite the fact that his state still hasn’t finished counting its ballots. In fact, he’s so confident in his decision, he repeated the statement that “the right thing happened” twice. It’s probably just as well Florida didn’t decide the election this year; otherwise we would still be waiting on a winner. (Read more)

Bad Bosses: Some CEOs claim they are laying off employees because of President Obama’s re-election, including Robert Murray of Murray Energy Corp. Murray said he “read a prayer” before firing 54 at one of his subsidiary corporations and 102 at another. This is the same guy, by the way, who allegedly forced employees to attend a Mitt Romney event that resulted in them losing pay. (Read more)

Going Over the Edge: New York Times columnist Paul Krugman urges President Obama to go over the “fiscal cliff” if it’s necessary. Krugman is encouraging the president to stand his ground this time because “a stalemate would hurt Republican backers, corporate donors in particular, every bit as much as it hurt the rest of the country. As the risk of severe economic damage grew, Republicans would face intense pressure to cut a deal after all.” (Read more)

Election 2016: Never mind that Americans just went to the polls and re-elected President Obama. A new poll released by Public Policy Polling reveals the early front-runners of the 2016 race. The polling firm conducted a survey in New Hampshire of the possible presidential field and the early leaders are Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on the Republican side. Couldn’t we at least get through the midterms first? (Read more)

Baldwin Fires Back: Wisconsin Sen.-elect Tammy Baldwin responded to her GOP counterpart Ron Johnson after he made condescending remarks indicating he didn’t think she understood how the federal budget worked. “Hopefully I can sit down and lay out for her my best understanding of the federal budget because they’re simply the facts,” Johnson said. The Democrat’s response: “I was a double major in college in mathematics and political science, and I served for six years on the House Budget Committee in my first six years in the House. ... I’m quite confident that I have those abilities.” Baldwin has been in Congress since 1999; Johnson was elected in 2010. (Read more)

Nugent Loses It: Donald Trump isn’t the only celebrity who imploded on Twitter after President Obama won re-election—conservative Ted Nugent had a similar meltdown. Among his tweets: “Goodluk America u just voted for economic & spiritual suicide. Soulless fools”; and “What subhuman varmint believes others must pay for their obesity booze cellphones birthcontrol abortions & lives.” (Read more)

Video of the Day: During a conversation about the book “Fifty Shades of Grey,” Pat Robertson was surprised to find out that women actually watch—and even like!—porn (though he himself finds it “boring”). “The thing that shocks me … we always thought this was a male thing.” Robertson then notes incredulously that a third of the millions of people who watch porn are women. What?! Women as autonomous sexual beings? Never!